If you live in a stormy or cataclysmic area, then you know how important it is to have a plan – an escape route, a first aid kit, a survival backpack, and anything else you might need to get by when push comes to shove. A few weeks ago a nasty storm hit our area, knocked over some power lines, and took the transformers with them. This left us and our neighbors without power for the better part of two weeks. Once the dust settled and we recovered, it was time to invest in a backup generator.

The Perfect Plan B

There are loads of generators to choose from, with as many makes and models and your local car dealership. It used to be just a pull chord engine you’d plug the necessities into like the fridge and stove. Now you can plug your whole house into one if you need to. The choices are far beyond what is expected. The man at the store helped me wade through all the options, weeding out all the unnecessarily bulky models and the ones too small to power the house.

After all the work, we finally found what we needed. Now we just had to find out how to get it home and hooked up. No amount of do-it-yourself material was going to help me here. I needed a professional. The man at the store gave a good recommendation and just like that the project was underway.

In a nutshell, generators have come a long way. Having a professional doing the job is an absolute must; most of the terminology was foreign and there were wires everywhere. But after a day or two the job was done, and the generator sits nicely in the backyard, waiting for bad weather to strike again. We’ll be ready this time.

Cappuccino Doughnuts courtesy of Ann Stratton from CountryLiving.com

Find your angle. 

Playing with the direction and angle of your light source is essential. With the right play between light and shadow, you can accent the most titillating parts of your dish, while camouflaging any flaws. Texture greatly contributes to the delicious appearance of most any meal. Notice how the angle of the light below highlights the different textures within this broiled flank-steak sandwich.

About 80% of dwellings were built before the year 1990. While they may have complied with the safety standards at the time of construction, those standards might not be relevant in today’s day and age. Significant changes were made in electrical standards since 1990 and the protection technologies of today were not available or required back then. You must ensure that the standards maintained in such existing accommodations are raised to the electrical safety levels of the current standards.

Understanding the Risks at Existing Accommodation

Extensive safety studies must be carried out in the existing residential buildings to determine the disparity between the required safety standards and the existing safety standards. If the existing standards fall a little short, you must show an urgency to raise the level of safety of these buildings and bring them up to the current standards.

Thankfully, it isn’t too complicated or difficult to do so. You can take small steps to gradually improve the electrical safety through a program of manual safety audits.

3 Ways Current Safety Standards Help in Reducing Electrical Risks

Importance of Verification

The current electrical standards ensure that the new residential electrical installations are safe and that they remain so over their entire lifetime. IEC 60364-6 defines both initial verification of an installation as well as verification of residential dwellings every 10 years. The periodic verification ensures that the fundamental protective measures remain active and reliable.

Recommended Periodic Auditing

There must be periodic auditing to ensure that the safety conditions are up to the mark. The audits need to be simple and based on visual checks. They need to be performed by a qualified auditor, who can then inform the owner of any possible safety issues. The owner will then take responsibility for arranging any necessary repair work. The frequency of inspection can be defined by each country, either by a specific period (e.g., 10 years), or triggered by an event such as the sale or rental of a dwelling.

Homeowners are always looking for ways to  lower their energy costs, and we can’t really blame them for wanting to do so. There are so many ways to go about conserving energy – both large and small – and we’re here to help you with some  ideas. It’s important to remember that even small changes can go a long way, so if you’re on a budget, don’t worry. Not every change requires a green gadget or a pocket full of cash. Simply altering a routine can have a serious impact on your annual energy costs.

We know that this can be a daunting process, because the opportunities are endless! This is why we’ve compiled five simple ways to lower energy costs.

Millions of dollars can be saved every year in every major or little city in this country and those around the world. This sounds like a newspaper headline but it is the actual hard truth. The amount of energy necessary for street lighting is massive. For example, Britain needs about 1900 gigawatt hours for street lighting alone, which yields 3 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions which could all be avoided and greatly reduced. Imagine cutting that down to 20%. Can it be done? Of course it can, LED street lights have been proved to have that effect.

With the economic crises, cities have started to switch off lights to save up on the electricity bill. This is one of the many solution proposed. Unfortunately, LED street lights were not proposed and that is a major mistake.  There are installation costs you might say. Well, sometimes there are, but these are equal to zero based on savings achieved over time. It means not seeing the whole picture because the lighting systems now used on the streets needs extensive costly maintenance while LED street lights will need almost none.

This is not a small fact. Maintenance means dozens of monthly salaries and costs with equipment and cars. This is only for one city but imagine the positive effect of this at a country scale or even a global scale. It will actually make a difference. In addition, these LED lamps are retrofit so there are not additional costs on that. Simply when one light burns out it should be replaced with an LED which reduces your costs by not having to fully replace your lights entirely.

There have been cases when the LED obvious benefits are:

The list can surely go on. Most people get stuck on the price but at such a big number of Street Light LEDs needed any dealer will be more than happy to negotiate a solution for the whole city so the costs will be lower than normal. In addition, the provider will stick around with advice and consultation.

In the end, it is just a matter of putting ideas into practice. Only this way we will manage to create a better world.